SCORE Business Talk:Mobile Payment Services
Bill McCabe– Port Charlotte SCORE
Sun April 11, 2015
Mobile payment services have made it ever so easy to collect payment by credit card at a remote location such as a customer's site or craft show. In the last column I provided some information about two providers: Square and Intuit's Go Payment.
PayAnywhere has a number of services, but I'll concentrate on mobile payment here. It can be used on Apple devices using iOS 7.0 or higher and on most Android devices OS 4.0 and higher. It is simple and easy to use. It uses a scanner that plugs into a headphone port. The device and software are free. It charges 2.69% for a swiped transaction and 3.49% plus 19 cents for a manually entered one. Receipts are emailed. There are fees for charge backs, NSF transactions and receipt retrievals. It has multiple channels for technical support and information, although there are complaints that wait times are long. Like Square there are complaints about overzealous security that sometimes results in the freezing of user assets when transactions are deemed to be dubious.
Flint Mobile also has a number of services, but I'll concentrate on mobile payment here. It can be used on most Apple (iOS 7.0 and up) and Android (OS 4.0 and up) devices. Instead of a plug-in scanner, it uses the device's camera to capture an image of the payment card. The software is free. It charges 1.95% on credit card transactions and 2.95% on debit card transactions. There is no extra charge for a manually entered transaction. One downside is that there are low limits on the amount of individual transactions and transaction volume: $1,000 per scanned transaction and $500 for a manual one; and no more than $1,000 per day and $2,000 per week. Any funds after that are held for 30 days. The limits can be increased based on a credit check. I have not seen references to complaints about support or overzealous security.
PayPal Here is PayPal's entry into the mobile credit card processing market. It uses a scanner that plugs into a headphone port or the device's camera to capture the image. Set up is a bit more complicated in that you must set up a PayPal account and undergo a credit check.However, if you already have a PayPal account, that process is shortened.The software and device are free. You can process check payments as well as credit and debit card payments, a distinct advantage. And since you wind up with a PayPal account, you have access to all of the features that come with an account. The fee for a swiped transaction is 2.7%, a keyed or camera scanned transaction is 3.5% plus 15 cents. International cards are accepted for an additional fee of 1%. There is no fee for camera scanned checks. There is a chargeback fee of $20. I have not seen references to complaints about support or overzealous security.
I happened to pick five mobile payment processing firms to write about. There are a number of others. If mobile payments are a big part of your business, or could be, shop around for the best deal.
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